Dinner with Friends ¦ Kate x Yelena

Chapter 1: Kate Bishop

She has to admit she had been a little sad to go back to New York. With her mother in jail and Jack with his family, and possibly completely out of her life, all she could come home to is loneliness.

The past couple of weeks had been insane, more than she could have ever imagined. Little Kate Bishop had always imagined stepping into the footsteps of Hawkeye, but actually fighting alongside him? Being the new Hawkeye? INSANE!

Well, that last thing isn't quite official yet so the insanity has to stay inside Kate's knowledge only for a bit longer.

Clint dropped her off about an hour ago and she's just about done unpacking, though she mainly sat her ass down telling herself she needed to unpack. Lucky's hungry whining eventually gave her the motivation to actually get the job done.

And now that everything is put away, she can go on with her life in New York which obviously, she isn't very happy about. The silence in her apartment feels uncomfortable, especially after spending such a long time around Clint's kids. They told her she was free to stay another couple of days but she felt she had already long overstayed her welcome.

Still, the prospect of getting to visit them again in the future brought her immense joy. They had invited her after all. She had been worried before that maybe they were just being polite, especially after the whole thing with her mother, but she figured they actually like her. And at least the rest of the Barton family was quicker with loving her and all her quirks. Clint had been a lot more hesitant. Nathaniel loved when Kate read to him, Lila was her new archery buddy and she had taught her most of what she knows, and Laura loved when she helped out with dinner. Cooper and she hung out the least but she could sense he didn't dislike having her around either.

How strange that strangers can feel more inviting and familiar than your actual family. Well, she knows that if her dad were still around, she wouldn't ever have thought that way.

Disposing of her thoughts, she notices Lucky who is still looking at her as if starving and her stomach starts to rumble as well.

'Time for dinner?' She speaks to Lucky though it isn't really the question she makes it out to be. It is time for dinner and it's quite easy to guess that they're craving the exact same food for dinner.

As soon as she has changed into a fresh sweatshirt, they step outside. The street is loud and busy, even more so than any other Sunday. The Christmas decorations have long been taken down which is a shame to her. If she had any say in the matter, Christmas lights would be strung around New York all year round. Couldn't hurt to start every day with festive cheer, right?

Her front door is barely closed when Lucky starts to pull her towards their favourite pizza place.

'Calm down, boy! You'll get your pizza soon enough.' He doesn't listen and soon enough they are at the restaurant, Lucky licking his lips while she's still trying to catch her breath.

'Nothing-' she pants, 'Nothing gets in the way of you and your slice of pizza, huh?'

It seems that the bit of archery training she's had at Clint's place hadn't been enough to keep her in shape, especially with all the amazing cooking she could try there. Meanwhile Lucky could have the worst physical condition in the whole world and he'd still run like crazy if it meant getting food faster.

As they're waiting to order, her phone rings. Her first thought and hope is that she had forgotten something at Clint's or that his kids miss her too much and that they would like for her to come back. But when she looks at her screen, it's Grills calling her. It makes her feel stupid for thinking anything else.

She picks up. 'Hey, Grills. How's it going?'

At the sound of his name, Lucky gives an acknowledging bark. They'd become pretty good buddies last month.